Pak. J. Pl. Sci.

, 16 (1): 37-42; 2010

SOME MEMBERS OF CLASS XANTHOPHYCEAE AND EUGLENOPHYCEAE FROM

SOILS OF PESHAWAR VALLEY, KHYBER PUKHTOONKHAWA, PAKISTAN
1
Farrukh Hussain, 2Ghazala Anjum, 4Parveen Akhtar and 3Mufakhirah Jan Durrani
1
Centre of Plant Biodiversity, 2Department of Botany, University of Peshawar, Pakistan
3
Department of Botany, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan
4
Jinnah College for Women, University of Peshawar, Pakistan

Abstract

Five species of Class Xanthophyceae namely: Gloeobotrys limneticus (G.M. Smith)

Pascher, Monallantus brevicylindrus Pascher, Heterococcus longicellularis Pitschmann, and
Tribonema bombycinum var tenue Hazen, T. minus (Wille) Hazen and Euglena proxima var
minima Szabdos from Euglenopphyceae were recorded from soil depth ranging from 2.5 to
15 cm from Peshawar Valley, Khyber Pukhtoonkhawa, Pakistan.

Keywords: Soil algae, Peshawar Valley, Six species, Pakistan.

Introduction

Soil algae are universal in their occurrence that present almost in every soil through
out the year. Many studies have identified algae from variety of soils (Anjum, 1981; Anjum
et al., 1987; Shah & Chughtai, 1984; Cavacini, 2001; Hussain et al., 2003; Fathi & Zaki,
2003; Santina et al., 2006; Al-Fredan & Fathi, 2007; Maced et al., 2009; Salaru et al., 2008).
Recently, Hussain et al. (2009) reported some blue green algae from rice fields of Swabi.
Leghari et al. (2007) reported Botrycoccus from Mirpur, Azad Kashmir. Shahida et al.
(2007) reported five species of Euglena from Rabwah and Sargodha. Soil algae from
Chichali formation was reported by Iqbal et al. (2007). The present preliminary work was
carried out to add information to the existing knowledge about some members of Class
Xanthophyceae and Euglenopphyceae from soils of Peshawar Valley.

Materials and Methods

Soil samples were taken at depth of 0-2.5, 2.5-5.0, 5.0-7.5, 7.5-10.0, 10.0-12 and
12.5-15 cm from different parts of Peshawar Valley, Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa. They were
dried, labeled and stored in laboratory at room temperature in plastic bags. Five gm soil was
mixed with 50 ml of sterile nutrient solution in a sterilized 125 ml capacity Erlenmeyer flask.
It was cultured under 16 hour photoperiod. After two weeks, when sufficient algal growth
occurred, algae were identified with the help of available literature. Diagrams were made
with Camera lucida.
Algae was initially cultured in IN BBM (Bischoff & Bold, 1963), 3N BBM (Brown
& Bold, 1964), Knop’s solution (Bold, 1942) and soil extract (Faridi, 1971). It was observed
that the best media were 3N BBM and soil extract, where algal culture survived for a longer
period. Soil extract was prepared following Faridi (1971) by mixing 1 gm soil with 10 ml
distilled water and then boiling for 2 hours. It was filtered and cooled to room temperature.
Few drops of fresh spinach and carrot juices were mixed with the soil extract to promote
algal growth.
38 Xanthophyceae and Euglenophyceae from soil F. Hussain et al.

Results

The study identified five species of Class Xanthophyceae namely: Gloeobotrys

limneticus (G.M. Smith) Pascher, Monallantus brevicylindrus Pascher, Heterococcus
longicellularis Pitscmann, Tribonema bombycinum var tenue Hazen and T. minus (Wille)
Hazen; and Euglena proxima var minima Szabdos from Euglenopphyceae from soil depth
ranging from 2.5 to 15 cm from Peshawar Valley, Khyber Pukhtoonkhawa, Pakistan. Some
of these species have been reported from soils and fresh water habitats from other parts of
this province and Pakistan (Leghari et al., 2007; Iqbal et al., 2007; Shahida et al., 2007).
The description, key for identification and camera lucida diagrams are given below.

Key to classes
1. Chromatophores yellow green --------Xanthophyceae
1. Chromatophores grass green, cell with paramylum ------ Euglenophyceae.
Key to the genera
1. Plants colonial --------------Gloeobotrys.
1. Plants solitary or filamentous ---------- 2
2. Plants solitary ------------- Monallantus
2. Plants filamentous ----------------- 3
3. Plants branched -------------- Heterococcus
3. Plants unbranched ------------ Tribonema.
Class Xanthophyceae
Gloeobotrys Pascher
Zur Kennluis der Heterokonten Algen. Arch. F. Protist, 69: 433. 1930.
Thallus free-floating or sedentary, gelatinous, with a definite or indefinite shape;
cells spherical or slightly ovate, many; sheath very weakly stratified; chromatophores 2-4
parietal plates, or discs; reproduction by aplanospores and zoospores. One species was
isolated.
1. Gloeobotrys limneticus (G.M. Smith) Pascher.
Heterkenton. In L. Robenhorst, Kryptogamenflora Von Deutschland, Oesterreich
under Schweiz. XI: 637, 1937-1939. Prescott, p. 356, p1. 93, figs. 35, 36. 1951.

Colony ovate; 10-30 ovate cells in clusters within a wide gelatinous envelope;
chromatophores 3-4, yellow-green, parietal discs; cells 5-6 µm in diameter, 6-8 µm long;
colonies up to 200 µm in diameter (Fig. 1).
Anjum 144, Sep. 10, 1978; Hussain 201, Oct. 20, 1980; Hussain 215, Yar Hussain Swabi.
Habitat: Dry land, Peshawar, cultivated Mardan, Crop fields Swabi.
Soil Deptt. 2 – 5cm.

Monallantus Pascher
Heterokenton, In L. Rabenhorst, Kryptogamenflora Von Deutschland, Oesterrich
under Schweiz XI. 420. 1939.
Cells solitary or in un joined clusters of 2-4 cells; sometimes arranged in a series,
enclosed by an inconspicuous film of mucilage; oblong with parallel margins, broadly
rounded poles; sometimes short cylinders with slightly convex margins; cell wall smooth,
 Xanthophyceae and Euglenophyceae from soil F. Hussain et al. 39

sometimes reddish; chromatophores 2-10, band-like or plate-like parietal; with or without

pyrenoid, leucosive granules and red oil globules usually present; reproduction by heterokont
zoospores and auto spores. Represented by one species.
1. Monallantus brevicylindrus Pascher
Heterokenton. In, L. Rabenhorst, Kryptogamen-flora Von Deutschland, Oesterrich
und des Schwiez. XI. 422. 1939. Prescott, p. 352, p1. 95, fig. 24. 1951; Smith, p.
383, fig. 290. 1951.
Cells cylindric, 1/3 to ½ longer than broad; 6-8 µm in diameter, 9-12 µm long;
chromatophores 1-2-4; zoospores with 2 flagella, amoeboid, ellipsoid, with one or two
chromatophores (Fig. 2).
Anjum 99, Feb. 11, 1978; Hussain 201, Oct. 20, 1980.
Habitat: Dry land, Peshawar, Mardan cultivated fields.
Soil Deptt. 2.5 – 5cm.

Tribonema Derbes & Solier

Memoire Sur quelques points de la physiologie des algues. Paris, p.1. 1856.
Filaments composed of cylindrical cells; walls with two sections overlapping in the
mid-region of the cell; cells forming H-shaped pieces when fragmentation of the filaments
occur; chromatophores disc-shaped, light yellow-green, 2 to several in a cell; pyrenoid
absent. Two species isolated from soil.
Key to the species
1. Cell walls thin……………….T. bombycium var. tenue (1)
1. Cell walls thick……………...T. minus (2).

1. Tribonema bombycinum var. tenue Hazen.

The Ulotricaceae and Chaetophoraceae of the United States Mem. Torrey Club, 11:
185. 1902. Prescott, p. 367, p1. 96, fig. 10. 1951.
Filaments much entangled, forming a grayish-yellow cloudy mass; cells with thin
walls, cylindrical or slightly constricted at the cross-walls; 3-6 µm in diameter, 10-36 µm
long; chromatophores numerous, small, parietal, pale yellow-green discs, sometimes in
contact, giving the appearance of 1 or 2 large, irregularly shaped plates (Fig. 3).
Anjum 165 Nov. 22, 1978; Hussain 178, dry land Kohat.
Habitat: Sorghum field, Peshawar, dry land Kohat.
Soil Deptt. Up to 7 – 5cm.

2. Tribonema minus (Wille) Hazen.

The Ulotricaceae and Chaetophoraceae of the United States. Mem. Torrey Bot.
Club, 11:185. 1902. Prescott, p. 368, p1.96, figs. 12-13. 1951; Tiffany & Britton, p.
210, p1. 209, fig. 647. 1952.
Filaments slender, cells cylindrical, 5-6 µm wide, 23-27 µm long; chromatophores
2-4 relatively large, parietal, disc-like plates, symmetrically arranged about the wall (Fig. 4).
Anjum 44, July 15, 1977; Hussain 29, May 30, 1982.
Habitat: Garden soil, Peshawar, cultivated fields Swabi.
Soil Deptt. 2.5 – 5cm.
40 Xanthophyceae and Euglenophyceae from soil F. Hussain et al.

Heterococcus Chada
Heterococcus Chodat Bull de. Herb Boiss. 1908
Thallus filamentous, filaments freely branched, without differentiation into base and
apex; cells uninucleate; chromatophere several; discoid; reproduction through formation of
biflagellate zoospores; aplanaspere formation also frequent, represented by one species from
Peshawar, Mardan and Swabi.
Heterococcus longicellularis Pitschmann
Vorabeiten Zu einer Monographic Monographic der Gattung, Heterococcus. Nova
Hedwigia, p.516, pl.19, fig 1-4, 1963.
Thallus highly branched; filaments; filaments 450 µm long, lateral branches up to
140 µm long; mature cells cylindrical, 22 µm broad; filaments closely entangled;
chromatophores disc like, elliptical, several; reproduction by aplanospores and akinetes
which are at first cylindrical, later become rounded, upto 30 µm broad, with elliptic
chloroplast (Fig. 5).
Anjum 67, Oct. 24, 1977; Anjum 67A, Oct. 25, 1977; Anjum 67B, Oct. 28, 1977; Anjum
67C, Oct. 30, 1978; Anjum 67D, Nov.1, 1978; Anjum 67E, Nov. 5, 1978; Hussain 53, Nov.
10, 1981; Hussain 2000, Nov. 30, 1982.
Habitat: Dry land, & Wheat field, Peshawar; Maize field, Mardan, Moist land, Dera Ismail
Khan.
Maize field Mardan, Swabi, Yar Hussain
Soil Deptt. 2.5 to 15cm.
Class Euglenophyceae
Euglena Ehrenber
Ueber die Entevicklung und Lebensdauer der infusionsthiere; nebrst ferneren
Beitragen zu einer Vergleichung ihrer organization System, Phys. Abh. Koenigl. Akad.
Wies. Z. Berlin, 1831. 104. 1833.
Cells mostly free-swimming, rarely creeping; fusiform, cylindrical or ovate; the
posterior end either rounded or extending into a fine point or caudus, the anterior end usually
narrowed, sometimes conspicuously bilipped; periplast either firm, giving the cell a rigid
shaped, or soft and pliable; cell metabolic, constantly changing shape in its movements;
when firm, periplast decorated with fine spirals, striations or rows of granules; a gullet and a
reservoir in the anterior end from which arises a single flagellum of variable length;
chloroplast variable, either numerous ovoid dics, a few ribbon-like bands or rarely star-
shaped plates; sometimes with pyrenoids, embedded in the chloroplast protrude from either
side. One species was recorded from Peshawar and Swabi districts.
1. Euglena proxima var. minima Szabdos.
A feher to Volvocales es Flagellate vegetacioja. Hidrol. Koezloeny, 1949(7-8): 1-8.
Pl.1. Kable. 1949. Gojdics, P.90, p1.7. Fig. 10. 1953.
Cells 4-5µm broad, 10-17µm long; spindle shaped, narrow in front, attenuated
posteriorly chromatophores numerous, discoid; flagellum approximately body length (Fig.
6).
Anjum 170, Dec. 2, 1978; Hussain 115, Nov. 12, 1980; Hussain 94; Nov. 20, 1980.
Habitat: Rice field, Methra, District Peshawar; Rice fields Yar Hussain, Swabi.
Soil Deptt. 2.5 to 7.5cm.
Xanthophyceae and Euglenophyceae from soil F. Hussain et al. 41
42 Xanthophyceae and Euglenophyceae from soil F. Hussain et al.

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(Received 25 November, 2009; Revised December 24, 2009)